Following a historic promotion which ended a 15-year wait to return to the top flight, FCV Dender was gutted to lose the man responsible for it all, Timmy Simmons, who ended his managerial spell at the club to take over at now fellow Jupiler Pro League side Westerlo.
His replacement?
None other than Vincent Euvrard, a man who had also led a side to the top flight when he did so with RWD Molenbeek just 12 months prior.
The former Zulte Waregem manager jumped at the opportunity after just missing out on promotion himself with his former side.
This also gave him a platform to manage for the first time in the Jupiler Pro League, having had several stints in the Challenger Pro League with Leuven, Cercle Brugge, and Geel, as well as the aforementioned Molenbeek and Zulte.
He was uncannily sacked by RWD Molenbeek a week before the start of the season, which meant he was never officially a manager among the top ranks in Belgian club football.
Until now&
It’s been early days into a new season back amongst the big boys in Belgium for Dender, but after four games, they are one of just three sides who have yet to be beaten so far in the league this term.
More surprisingly, they are also, the second highest scoring outfit to date.
This FCV Dender tactical analysis will take a more detailed look at Vincent Euvrard tactics and why it’s been a smooth transition to Belgium’s top level for a club that has been away for a decade and a half.
FCV Dender Attacking Style Under Vincent Euvrard
As alluded to, Dender have started the season as one of the highest-scoring teams in the league, but in their home opener against Royal Union SG, Euvrard set the side up in a more defensive-minded approach with a 5-4-1 diamond system.
The game plan appeared simple: keep it tight at the back and try to get the wing-backs high as quickly as possible or play Bruny Nsimba, the lone striker on the day, in behind the Union defence with an early release or ball over the top.
Aside from an instance in the first half when Nsimba did receive such a ball that led to a goal eventually ruled out for offside, Dender struggled to create anything of note, only amassing a measly three shots in the entire 90 minutes, with none hitting the target.
All three registered attempts came after Euvrard made the decision to make a double switch midway through the second half when he swapped out both Nsimba and Roman Květ, who was playing off him at the tip of the diamond, for Jordy Soladio and Mohamed Berte and going with two strikers up front which seemed to have more potential given the greater threat they posed to the Union defence with their runs and more aggressive approach to the game compared to the original setup.
Euvrard decided to stick with this for the next game away at Gent and brought in Soladio for Květ to partner Nsimba, who was frustratingly stranded on an island throughout his hour on the pitch in the opener, upfront and switching to a 5-3-2 base system.
But the bigger change was the teams general mindset, which was to be more brave, get on the ball more, and add short, combination plays to their game instead of constantly just looking for the early release long ball in behind, as against Union.
One player who noticeably embodied this change was Joedrick Pupe, the left centre-back of the three-man central defensive line who got on the ball more often and helped progress attacks from a deeper position with powerful runs with the ball, as well as taking up a bigger tactical responsibility in the build-up phase by taking more of a higher starting position as an auxiliary left-back so left wing-back Fabio Ferraro could be freed up to move much higher up the field almost as a winger.
Euvrard also swapped Nathan Rodes with Malcolm Viltard, with the latter taking more of an advanced role as a central midfielder to make better use of his attributes to press higher up the field and get on the ball to link up with others. At the same time, Rodes instead sat deeper as the facilitative pivot of the midfield three.
Roman Květ ended up being the player sacrificed for this particular game, but he eventually found his way back into the team in successive games in the left-sided midfield role, which is a more natural fit for him than playing behind a striker like he did against Union.
The changes from the first game that led to the 5-3-2 system being deployed were hardly tinkered with after that in the games that followed, with Euvrard only opting to change personnel to give different players an opportunity to start but keeping the base approach and always having two outlets up front, which has come to devastating effect with all of their strikers finding their scoring boots early on in the campaign.
In terms of build-up play, Dender have mainly focused on their efforts on playing the ball long upfield and beginning their build-up higher up the pitch in the second phase.
However, on occasions they have attempted to play out from the back, it’s looked mostly like as illustrated above.
Gill
